a.Structure helps us to see how all the pieces fit: we see Mark’s main
focus

i.We
are to see the glory, power, and suffering of Jesus: Christology

ii.We
are to respond rightly to this portrait of Jesus: discipleship

b.Structure can help in evangelism

12.Reading
Mark for the next seven weeks

a.Read with your mind: think about; ask
questions

b.Read with your imagination: place
yourself in the story and situations

c.Read with your feelings: how does Jesus
make me feel—happy, sad, mad, confused?

13.Reading
for transformation: some thoughts by philosopher Gregory Ganssle

“How do we bring Jesus into our
core identities? … In my spiritual journey, I have found only two things that
help me bring Jesus into my core.The first is obedience.The second is to meditateon the encounters
with Jesus in the Gospels.

“When discussing how our core
identities are formed, I mentioned that they come about as we inhabit certain
belief and value structures over time.As we make choices along the contours of our core identities, they
become more deeply entrenched.

“It is easy to see how a person’s
choices to obey what she thinks God wants for her will bring Jesus more deeply
into her soul.Every choice she
makes to obey is a choice that following Jesus is more important or valued more
deeply than the alternatives.Thus
the person inhabits these value structures over time.

“Meditating on Jesus’ encounters
with others in the Gospel has also been fruitful for me.I began by asking questions about how I
fit into the story of the encounters.

·When am I like the paralytic (I need to be in
the presence of Jesus but I cannot get there on my own)?

·When am I like the crowd, so caught up in my own
concerns that I will not make room for others?

·When am I like the Pharisees, standing in
judgment on what God is doing for others?

·When am I like the four friends who would not
allow any obstacle to prevent them from bringing their friend to Jesus so Jesus
can do what only Jesus can do?

“Wrestling with these kinds of
questions brings me more deeply into the text.I see myself, my heart, my longings in a new light.And I see them within the story of
Jesus’ actions in the world.To be
honest, it takes me a long time.Over the past decade, I have latched on to a few of these encounters and
thought about them constantly.

“As I see myself in Jesus’
encounters, I taste how he meets me
in more than my intellect.He
meets me in my affective world.I
find myself wanting him more.He
becomes more real.I begin to
experience the truth that Augustine observed: He has made me for himself.I am restless until I find my rest in him.”[5]

14.Next
week’s reading: Mark 1.21—6.6

a.Watch for the authority of Jesus.What does Jesus demonstrate authority
over in this section of Mark?

b.In Mark chapter 2 the scribes, Pharisees, and
John’s disciples ask four sets of questions.What do Jesus’ answers show us about who is he and what his
character is?

c.Which story/section did you find to be the most
moving emotionally?the most
challenging?the most confusing?

[3]“Clement of
Alexandria, Jerome, and Origen state that Mark wrote his Gospel while Peter was
still alive.If this is so, Mark
would have to have bee written prior to A.D. 64-66, assuming Clement of Rome is
correctly interpreted to be speaking of the double martyrdom of Peter and Paul
around that time.”Hans F. Bayer, A Theology of Mark: The Dynamic Between
Christology and Authentic Discipleship (Phillipsburg, New Jersey:
Presbyterian and Reformed, 2012), 166.